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Rugby Union

Carter revives sluggish All Blacks

16/06/2007

New Zealand racked up an expectedly one-sided win over Canada in Hamilton, but the World Cup favourites' 64-13 victory came only after a landslide of second-half points.

Fly-half Dan Carter spurred the home side into life after they returned to the dressing rooms with just a 13-point lead after an even first half.

After the break the Canterbury star scored a hat-trick of tries, as well as five conversions, to prise open a greater margin of victory.

The early phases saw the hosts cross twice in the opening 13 minutes as winger Sitiveni Sivivatu was followed over by centre Luke McAllister.

But the Canadian side stemmed the flow of points and then reversed it as David Pike's 90-metre interception try, combined with a successful penalty attempt from James Pritchard, pulled the score back to 12-10.

Prop John Schwalger scored a debut Test try on the brink of the break, but a weakened New Zealand side only asserted their dominance after a stern half-time critique from Graham Henry.

In addition to Carter's tries, hooker Andrew Hore and flanker Chris Masoe touched down for the first time in international rugby before wing duo Rico Gear and Doug Howlett added to their far larger tallies.

"We've got a lot to work on. It was just messy, wasn't it? The guys are aware of that and we have quite a lot to work on really," captain Reuben Thorne admitted.

"You have to give some credit to Canada. They came into [it] pumped up. It was the game of their lives for some of those players and they really got stuck into it."

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